There's been a big development in the production of Netflix's 'The Witcher'

Casting has officially begun for Netflix’s The Witcher - and we’re incredibly excited

Game of Thrones fans everywhere are busy readying themselves for the hideous reality that the eighth season of the show, due next year, will be the last. But there could be a new saga to occupy that dragon-shaped hole in your life in the form of The Witcher.

Rising to prominence as an action role-playing videogame, based on the best-selling fantasy novels from Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski, the games have shifted more than 33 million copies worldwide. So we’re talking a properly huge series here.

Known collectively as the Witcher Saga, Sapkowski’s eight novels and story collections center on ‘witchers’ - hunters who develop supernatural abilities at a young age to battle deadly monsters.

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And The Witcher, in many ways similar to Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, is now getting the Netflix treatment.

This gory trailer for the 2015 game The Witcher III: Wild Hunt gives you a little taste of what you can expect from the show…

Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, who has previously written episodes of The West Wing, Daredevil and The Defenders, has even revealed on Twitter that the casting process for the show has begun – and uncovered their ingenious trick to stop spoilers leaking onto the internet:

There’s no word yet on who’ll be taking the lead role of Geralt of Rivia – but one fan has made a frankly fantastic trailer with Casino Royale villain Mads Mikkelsen taking up the prime part:

“I’m thrilled that Netflix will be doing an adaptation of my stories, staying true to the source material and the themes that I have spent over thirty years writing,” said Sapkowski last year when the TV deal was announced. “I’m excited about our efforts together, as well as the team assembled to shepherd these characters to life.”

Sapkowski will serve as a creative consultant on the series, which is expected to air in 2020.

Executive producers Tomek Baginski and Jarek Sawko added: “There is a moral and intellectual depth in these books which goes beyond genre. It is a story about today and today’s challenges, hidden under a fantasy cover. It is a story about us, about the monster and the hero inside all of our hearts.”